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Sunday, 31 July 2011

he complete extent of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s decades-long involvement in
the illegal transfer of nuclear materials and technologies is not known. The details are
submerged in Khan’s work over the past thirty years, which has included both the development
of Pakistan’s uranium enrichment capabilities and a complex international network of experts,
suppliers, and front companies that have aided Iran, Libya, North Korea, and potentially others.
Since we do not know exactly what Khan did, we cannot know when he did it. As more
information is released from those who have questioned Khan and his network partners, a more
complete image of the nuclear black market will emerge. This chronology summarizes what we
now know.
Khan Builds His Base in Pakistan
Pre-1985: Khan’s early exposure to European technology and supply chains allow him to establish and develop
uranium enrichment technologies in Pakistan. Knowledge of the technologies, and more importantly, the companies
from which to obtain the necessary components set the foundation for how the future proliferation network would
operate.
1936
• Khan is born in Bhopal, which is part of British India. Khan will immigrate with his
family to Pakistan in 1952, several years after India and Pakistan are partitioned.
1961
• Khan moves to Europe to complete his studies, first in West Berlin and later at the
Technical University in Delft, Holland, where he receives a degree in metallurgical
engineering in 1967.
1
1972
• Khan receives Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuvenin Belgium.
• May – Khan begins work at Physical Dynamic Research Laboratory (FDO), a
subcontractor of Ultra Centrifuge Nederland (UCN). UCN is the Dutch partner in the
Urenco uranium enrichment consortium.
2
• 8 May - Within one week of starting work at FDO, Khan visits the advanced UCN
enrichment facility in Almelo, Netherlands to become familiar with Urenco centrifuge
operations and the aspects relevant to his own work to strengthen the metal centrifuge
T2
components. Khan is not officially cleared to visit the facility, but does so many times
with the consent of his employers.
3
Early 1970s
• Dutch intelligence begins to monitor Khan soon after he begins work at FDO, concerned
by a series of inquiries about technical information not related to Khan’s own projects.
4
1974
• 18 May – India conducts its first nuclear test, a “peaceful nuclear explosion.”
5
• September – Khan writes to Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to offer his services and
expertise to Pakistan.
6
• Late – Khan is tasked by UCN at Almelo with translations of the more advanced
German-designed G-1 and G-2 centrifuges from German to Dutch, to which he has
unsupervised access for 16 days.
7
Late 1970s and Early 1980s
• American intelligence officials convince Dutch authorities on two occasions not to arrest
Khan for the purposes of monitoring his activities further.
8
1975
• August – Pakistan begins buying components for its domestic uranium enrichment
program from European Urenco suppliers. S.A. Butt, a physicist in the Pakistani
embassy in Belgium, contacts a Dutch company to obtain high frequency inverters, which
are used to control centrifuge motors. Purchases accelerate in the following years and
many components are secured from companies in the Netherlands that Khan is familiar
with.
9
• October – Khan is transferred away from enrichment work with FDO as Dutch
authorities become increasingly concerned over his activities. He is reportedly observed
asking “suspicious questions” at a nuclear trade show in Switzerland.
10
• 15 December – Khan suddenly leaves FDO for Pakistan with copied blueprints for
centrifuges and other components and contact information for nearly 100 companies that
supply centrifuge components and materials.
11
1976
• Khan begins centrifuge work with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC),
headed by Munir Ahmad Khan.
• July – After conflicts at the PAEC, Prime Minister Bhutto gives Khan autonomous
control over Pakistani uranium enrichment programs.
12
Khan founds Engineering
Research Laboratory (ERL) on July 31, which focuses exclusively on developing an
indigenous uranium enrichment capability.
13
• The PAEC continues nuclear research and experiments in both weapons and power
programs in competition with A.Q. Khan and will later develop Pakistan’s first generation
of nuclear weapons.
143
1978
• ERL develops working prototypes of P-1 centrifuges, adapted from the German G-1
design Khan worked with at Urenco. Pakistan enriches uranium for the first time on
April 4 at Khan’s enrichment facility at Kahuta.
15
1979
• April - Pakistan is cut off from economic and military assistance by the United States
after U.S. intelligence learns of the recently commissioned enrichment facility at Kahuta.
16

However, the strategic importance of Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
ensures that no meaningful sanctions will be imposed. This policy is consolidated
following the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
17
Early 1980s
• Khan acquires blueprints for the Chinese bomb that was tested in China’s fourth nuclear
explosion in 1966.
18
• Khan is, reportedly, approached by an unknown Arab country (possibly Saudi Arabia or
Syria) requesting nuclear assistance.
19
1981
• 1 May – ERL is renamed A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by President Zia ulHaq in recognition of Khan’s contributions to the operational enrichment facility at
Kahuta.
20
1983
• Khan is convicted, in absentia, in Dutch court for conducting nuclear espionage and
sentenced to four years in prison.
21
1985
• Khan’s conviction is overturned based on an appeal that he had not received a proper
summons. The Dutch prosecution does not renew charges because of the impossibility
of serving Khan a summons given Pakistan security and the inability to obtain any of the
documents that Khan had taken to Pakistan.
22
The Network Flows Both Ways
Mid-1980s to mid-1990s: Khan’s early successes with the Pakistani uranium enrichment program are followed by
the more advanced design and technologies of the P-2 centrifuge, an adapted version of the German G-2 that can
spin twice as fast as the previous P-1 design. Khan is left with an excess inventory of P-1 components and begins
to purchase additional P-2 components that he will export through many of the same channels he had used to
import centrifuge components. Khan makes nuclear sales in this period to Iran and offers technologies to Iraq and
possibly others.
Mid 1980s
• Pakistan produces enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a nuclear weapon. KRL
continues work on enrichment and is tasked with research and development of missile
delivery systems.
234
• Khan, reportedly, begins to develop his export network and orders twice the number of
components necessary for the indigenous Pakistani program. This transition from
importer to exporter of centrifuge components is, apparently, completely missed by
western intelligence services who believe Khan is only working on Pakistan’s domestic
nuclear weapons program.
24
1986 to 1987
• Pakistan and Iran are suspected of signing a secret agreement on peaceful nuclear
cooperation. Allegedly, the deal includes a provision for at least six Iranians to be trained
in Pakistan at the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology in Islamabad and the
Nuclear Studies Institute. Iranian scientists might also receive centrifuge training at
KRL.
25
• Khan is suspected of visiting the Iranian reactor at Bushehr in February 1986 and again in
January 1987. These early interactions may have led directly to Khan’s assistance to Iran,
but the content of the visits is unknown.
26
Late 1980s
• Khan and his network of international suppliers are reported to begin nuclear transfers to
Iran. The period of cooperation is thought to continue through 1995 when P-2
centrifuge components are transferred. The Pakistani government claims no transfers
occurred after the shipments of P-1 components and sub-assemblies from 1989 to 1991.
27
• German intelligence investigates potential Pakistani assistance to Iraq, and possibly Iran
and North Korea, with processes related to melting uranium.
28
1987
• Khan is suspected of having made an offer to Iran to provide a package of nuclear
technologies, including assistance for the difficult process of casting uranium metal. The
price for the package is reported to be from the tens of millions to the hundreds of
millions.
29
• Khan is believed to make a centrifuge deal with Iran to help build a cascade of 50,000 P-1
centrifuges.
30
In addition, Iran may have received centrifuge drawings through an
unknown foreign intermediary around this time.
31
• KRL begins to publish publicly available technical papers that outline some of the more
advanced design features Khan has developed. The papers include information that
would normally be classified in the U.S. and Europe and show that KRL is competent in
many aspects of centrifuge design and operation. The papers also include specifications
for centrifuges with maraging steel that can spin faster than earlier aluminum designs.
Later, in 1991, KRL publishes details on how to etch grooves around the bottom bearing
to incorporate lubricants. These technical developments are important for Khan’s P-2
centrifuges.
32
1988
• Iranian scientists are suspected of having received nuclear training in Pakistan.
335
1989
• Iran is suspected of receiving its first centrifuge assemblies and components around this
time. The shipped components are likely older P-1 centrifuge components that Khan no
longer has use for in Pakistan. Through 1995, Khan is reported to have shipped over
2000 components and sub-assemblies for P-1, and later P-2, centrifuges to Iran.
34
1990
• An Iraqi memo, found during inspections in 1995, indicates that Khan may have offered
significant nuclear assistance to Iraq in late 1990. He offered to sell Iraq a nuclear bomb
design and guarantee material support from Western Europe for a uranium enrichment
program. Khan stated that any materials needed from Europe could be routed through a
company he owned in Dubai and that a meeting with a friendly intermediary could take
place in Greece. However, Iraq is believed to have turned down the offer, suspecting it
to be a sting and no known follow-ups were made after the 1991 Gulf War. The
investigation in the 1990s was inconclusive in its efforts to determine the authenticity of
the memo.
35
1992
• Pakistan begins missile cooperation with North Korea. Within Pakistan, KRL is one of
the laboratories responsible for missile research and will develop the Ghauri missile with
North Korean assistance. This cooperation probably establishes the connections that
Khan could have used to transfer nuclear technologies. However, very little is known
about when any nuclear transfers began, what nuclear components might have been
obtained by North Korea, and whether or not the Pakistani government was privy to
Khan’s activities.
36
1994 or 1995
• More advanced components for P-2 centrifuges are suspected to have arrived in Iran.
B.S.A. Tahir, a Sri Lankan business man and Khan’s chief lieutenant, told Malaysian
police that Iran paid approximately $3 million for these centrifuge parts.
37
The Network Expands
Mid-1990s to the Present: After initial nuclear transfers to Iran, A.Q. Khan appears to have expanded his
network of customers to include Libya and North Korea. Khan’s network was based on a complex structure of
international suppliers that shipped components unimpeded by ineffective controls. Details of Libya’s acquisition
trace the network to Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, South Africa, Switzerland, South Korea, Dubai, and possibly
others.
38
Khan appears to have been financially motivated and, reportedly, received over $100 million from sales to
39
Libya alone
Many details of the sales to Libya have been uncovered since late 2003, when it decided to come
clean about its nuclear program. However many aspects of the network remain mysterious, including network
sources for some necessary centrifuge components and details about suspected transfers to North Korea.
Mid 1990s
• Khan starts travel to North Korea where he receives technical assistance for the
development of the Ghauri missile, an adaptation of the North Korean No Dong design.
Khan makes at least 13 visits before his public confession in 2004 and is suspected of
arranging a barter deal to exchange nuclear and missile technologies, though the details of 6
any nuclear transfers remain unknown. Khan travels with military personnel from KRL.
These officials could have helped with the transfer of nuclear technology because
programs under the Ministry of Defense were exempt from normal export controls.
40

The military presence at KRL, including personnel who traveled to North Korea,
suggests that the Pakistani government might have been aware of Khan’s activities.
President Musharraf denies this claim.
41
• Khan is suspected to have met with a top Syrian official in Beirut to offer assistance with
a centrifuge enrichment facility.
42
1996
• The Pakistani currency reserve crunch may motivate Khan to expand his nuclear network
with sales to North Korea. The crisis might have made a barter agreement attractive to
Pakistan to avoid defaulting on external debt. Visits of North Korean and Pakistani
officials accelerate following the crisis, but it is not known if these meetings include
discussions of nuclear transfers or deal exclusively with missile technologies.
43
1997
• Khan begins to transfer centrifuges and centrifuge components to Libya. Libya receives
20 assembled P-1 centrifuges and components for 200 additional units for a pilot
enrichment facility. Khan’s network will continue to supply with centrifuge components
until late 2003.
44
• Khan is suspected of beginning nuclear transfers to North Korea around this time,
though the dates of the first transfers are highly uncertain.
45
Transfers to North Korea
are believed to have continued through 2003, but the Pakistani government claims these
transfers ceased in 2001. Over this period, Khan may have supplied North Korea with
old and discarded centrifuge and enrichment machines together with sets of drawings,
sketches, technical data, and depleted uranium hexafluoride.
46

• December – Several reports state that Pakistan's then-Chief of Army Staff General
Jehangir Karamat secretly visited Pyongyang.
47
Khan has claimed that Karamat was aware
of the deal between Pakistan and North Korea to exchange enrichment assistance for
missile technologies.
48
Karamat, now Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, says
that this information is incorrect. He says that he never visited North Korea and did not
have any knowledge of the proliferation activity.
1998
• India detonates a total of five devices in nuclear tests on May 11 and 13.
• Pakistan responds with six nuclear tests on May 28 and 30.
49
1999
• Pakistani government releases an advertisement of procedures for the export of nuclear
equipment and components. The ad lists equipment for sale, including gas centrifuges
and magnet baffles for enriching uranium.
50
Other advertisements from KRL are
reported to include an “unsubtle drawing” of a mushroom cloud and vacuum devices that
attach to centrifuge casings.
51
2000 7
• June – Peter Griffin sets up Gulf Technical Industries in Dubai, which serves as a front
company for Khan’s network. B.S.A. Tahir will use Gulf Technical Industries as one of
his front companies to order centrifuge components from Malaysia.
52
• September – Libya receives two P-2 centrifuges as demonstrator models and places an
order for components for 10,000 more to build a cascade. Each centrifuge contains
around 100 parts, implying approximately 1 million parts total for the entire P-2
centrifuge cascade.
53
2001
• Libya obtains 1.87 tons of uranium hexafluoride, the gas that is used to feed enrichment
centrifuges. The amount is consistent with that required for a small pilot enrichment
facility.
54
The source of the uranium hexafluoride remains uncertain. In 2004, evidence
emerges that North Korea might have supplied Libya with the material, which would be
the first discovered transfer of nuclear material from North Korea to an A.Q. Khan
network recipient. The evidence remains inconclusive, however, and authorities continue
to suspect that the uranium hexafluoride came from Pakistan.
55
• March – Khan is forced into retirement. Khan refuses the compensatory position of
“advisor to the chief executive” and is later given the ceremonial title of “Special Advisor
to the Chief Executive on Strategic and KRL Affairs.” However, neither Khan nor the
press use this title.
56
President Musharraf has admitted that Khan’s suspected
proliferation activity was a critical factor in his removal from KRL.
57
• Summer – American spy satellites detect missile components being loaded into a
Pakistani cargo plane outside of Pyongyang. Intelligence services assume the cargo to be
missile technology traded in direct exchange for nuclear technology, but no hard evidence
exists.
58
• December – B.S.A. Tahir signs a $13 million contract with Scuomi Precision Engineering
(SCOPE) in Malaysia for 25,000 aluminum centrifuge components. The components will
be shipped to front companies in Dubai, including Gulf Technical Industries and SMB
Computers. SCOPE representatives later acknowledge manufacturing parts for Tahir,
but believed that they would be used in Dubai oil and gas industries.
59
Late 2001 or Early 2002
• Libya receives blueprints for nuclear weapons plans. The plans are reported to be of
Chinese origin with Chinese notes in the margins.
60
There is reported to be a note on the
blueprints that “Munir’s bomb would be bigger,” possibly a reference to Munir Ahmad
Khan of the PAEC, who was in competition with A.Q. Khan to develop a Pakistani
bomb.
61
2002
• December – Shipments begin from SCOPE of aluminum centrifuge components. Four
shipments are believed to have been sent from Malaysia to Dubai before August 2003, en
route to Libya.
62
20038
• Spring – The State Department announces some sanctions against KRL, citing illegal
missile transactions. The State Department also states that it has insufficient evidence to
issue sanctions for illegal nuclear transactions.
63
• April – German authorities intercept a ship in the Suez Canal with a large cargo of strong
aluminum tubing en route to North Korea. The tube specifications suggest that they are
intended for use as outer casings for P-2 centrifuges.
64
• October – The German cargo ship BBC China is intercepted en route to Libya with
components for 1,000 centrifuges. The parts were manufactured in Malaysia by SCOPE
and shipped through Dubai.
65
• December – Libya renounces its nuclear weapons program and begins the process of full
disclosure to the IAEA, including the declaration of all foreign procurements.
66
2004
• 4 February – Khan makes a public confession on Pakistani television (in English) of his
illegal nuclear dealings. Khan claims that he initiated the transfers and cites an “error of
judgment.” He is pardoned soon after by President Musharraf and has been under house
arrest since. The Pakistani government claims that Khan acted independently and

without state knowledge.
67
• March – A container aboard the BBC China (the ship that was previously intercepted)
arrives in Libya with one additional container of P-2 centrifuge components. Colonel
Qaddafi reports the arrival to American intelligence and the IAEA. The Libyans warn
American officials that not all of the components from Libya’s orders had arrived and
some might still show up in the future.
6

Saturday, 30 July 2011

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) is one of the preeminent writers of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Indeed, the attention he has received from numerous writers, translators, and critics from Western as well as Islamic countries testifies to his stature as a world literary figure. While his primary reputation is that of a poet, Iqbal has not lacked admirers for his philosophical thought. He has in fact been called “the most serious Muslim philosophical thinker of modem times.” The frequently used appellation of “poet-philosopher” is thus well deserved. The hyphen in the phrase is all-important: Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy do not exist in isolation from each other; they are integrally related, his poetry serving as a vehicle for his thought. Iqbal wrote poetry in Urdu and Persian, and several collections in each language exist. In the following page a life-sketch of Iqbal is followed by a brief treatment of some of the major themes and literary features of his poetry.

*****

Iqbal was born in Sialkot, in the present-day province of the Punjab in Pakistan, in 1877. He received his early education in that city, where one of his teachers was Mir Hasan, an accomplished scholar who commanded a knowledge of several Islamic languages. Mir Hasan gave Iqbal a thorough training in the rich Islamic literary tradition. His influence on Iqbal was formative. Many years later (1922), when the English governor of the Punjab proposed to the British Crown that Iqbal be knighted in acknowledgment of his literary accomplishments, Iqbal asked that Mir Hasan also be awarded a title. To the governor’s remark that Mir Hasan had not authored any books, Iqbal responded that he, Iqbal, was the book Mir Hasan had produced. Mir Hasan received the title of Shams al-’Ulama’ (“Sun of Scholars”).
For higher education Iqbal went to Lahore (1895), where he enrolled in Government College, getting, in 1899, an MA in philosophy; he had already obtained a degree in law (1898). In Lahore, a major center of academic and literary activity, Iqbal soon made a name for himself as a poet. One of the teachers of Government College Iqbal admired most was Sir Thomas Arnold. Arnold, too, had great affection for Iqbal, he helped Iqbal in his career as a teacher and also encouraged him to undertake several research projects. When Arnold returned to England in 1904, Iqbal wrote a touching poem in which he expressed his resolve to follow Arnold to England. The very next year, in fact, Iqbal left for study at Cambridge. His choice of Cambridge was probably dictated by the fact that Cambridge was reputed for the study not only of European philosophy but also of Arabic and Persian. In his three years of stay abroad, Iqbal obtained a BA from Cambridge (1906), qualified as a barrister at London’s Middle Temple (1906), and earned a PhD from Munich University (1908).
After returning to Lahore in 1908, Iqbal taught philosophy at Government College for a few years. In 1911 he resigned from government service and set up legal practice. Meanwhile he continued to write poetry in Urdu and Persian, Asrar-i Khudi (Persian) was published in 1915. Translated into English as The Secrets of the Self (1920) by Professor Reynold Nicholson of Cambridge, the book introduced Iqbal to the West. Asrar-i Khudi was followed by several other volumes: Rumuz-i Bikhudi (1918), Payam-i Mashriq (1923), Bang-i Dara (1924), Zabur-i ‘Ajam (1927), Javid Namah(1932), Musafir (1936), Zarb-i Kalim (1937), and Armaghan-i Hijaz (1938, posthumously). Iqbal wrote prose also. His doctoral thesis, The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, was published in 1908, and hisReconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (with a 7th chapter added to the original set of six lectures, first published in 1930), in 1934. Many of Iqbal’s poetical works have been rendered into foreign languages, including English, German, Italian, Russian, Czechoslovakian, Arabic, and Turkish. His works have also spawned a vast amount of critical literature in many languages.
Although his main interests were scholarly, Iqbal was not unconcerned with the political situation of the, country and the political fortunes of the Muslim community of India. Already in 1908, while in England, he had been chosen as a member of the executive council of the newly established British branch of the Indian Muslim League. In 1931 and 1932 he represented the Muslims of India in the Round Table Conferences held in England to discuss the issue of the political future of India. And in a 1930 lecture Iqbal suggested the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. Iqbal died (1938) before the creation of Pakistan (1947), but it was his teaching that “spiritually ... has been the chief force behind the creation of Pakistan.” He is the national poet of Pakistan.

II

A detailed discussion of the thematic and literary features of Iqbal’s poetry is not be undertaken here. A few general points may, however, be made.
A reader of Iqbal’s poetry is struck by its sheer thematic variety. Iqbal was deeply interested in the issues that have exercised the best minds of the human race—the issues of the meaning of life, change and constancy, freedom and determinism, survival and progress, the relation between the body and the soul, the conflict between reason and emotion, evil and suffering, the position and role of human beings in the universe—and in his poetry he deals with these and other issues. He had also read widely in history, philosophy, literature, mysticism, and politics, and, again, his catholic interests are reflected in his poetry.
Iqbal celebrates humanity, in more than one sense. On one level he shows broad acceptance for humanity. In “The Story of Adam”, the protagonist, Adam, plays a variety of roles-those of prophet, thinker, reformer, scientist, inventor, astronomer, martyr, and iconoclast. Adam in this poem is not simply a religious figure belonging to a certain tradition, but represents the whole of humankind. On another level, Iqbal takes pride in being human and has no desire to partake of the godhead of God. To be God is to have concerns and worries that would give one a headache, but to be human is to have that sweet pain called heartache. Humans can hold their heads high in view of their achievements in the world to which they were banished from paradise: if God has made the night, then humans have made the lamp, and if God has made deserts and mountains, then humans have made parks and meadows (“A Dialogue Between God and Man,”). Humans must, therefore, strive to be perfect qua humans, and that is a goal yet to be achieved.
The theme of humanity is closely linked in Iqbal with that of khudi(literally, “selfhood”). Khudi is a complex thought in Iqbal. Broadly speaking, it represents the principle of the inner self with an urge to manifest itself Societies as well as individuals have khudi, and it is on the development or suppression of one’s or failure in the world depends,khudi that one’s success the khudi of slaves, for example, is moribund.
Recognition, discovery, cultivation, and assertion of their khudi should, therefore, be the aim of humans. Iqbal’s critique of Muslim societies is predicated on the assumption that these societies have lost their khudi or have allowed it to become seriously impaired. The best way to understand Iqbal’s concept of khudi is by reading poems in which he discusses the subject.
Perfection, or rather limitless perfection, is a frequently occurring motif in Iqbal’s poetry. “I seek the end of that which has no end,” says Iqbal in “The Houri and the Poet”, and, in the same poem: “From the spark I seek a star, from the star a sun.” Iqbal sees no end to human potentialities. He wishes humans to embark on a never-ending journey of discovery, and to this end emphasizes the importance of action. Constant action and perpetual movement are in fact the only guarantee of survival in the world. Nations fall behind when they cease to be dynamic and start preferring a life of idle speculation over one of purposive action.
But the quest for perfection can give rise to irony. Irony, in fact, fills human life, for while they have been imbued with the desire to achieve perfection, humans have been denied the ability to achieve it in practice. The poems “Man”, “Solitude”, and “The Dew and the Stars” discuss several aspects of the irony of human life. The poem, “The Story of Adam,” though it ends on a more optimistic note, yet implies that it takes humans a long time to discover the most important secret of existence.
“The heart has its reasons, of which reason is ignorant,” says Pascal. Iqbal, who frequently speaks of the conflict of the head and the heart, would agree, though he would add that while the conflict exists, it does not have to. More often than not it is reason (or the intellect) that belittles the heart (or intuition), but both are essential to a harmonious life; ideally, then, reason and the heart should cooperate rather than clash.
Although he has wide-ranging interests, Iqbal essentially belongs to, and speaks from within, the Islamic tradition, employing, for his purposes, the historical, religious, philosophical, and literary resources of that tradition. A full appreciation of Iqbal requires an understanding of these resources, and the notes and commentaries in this volume elucidate Iqbal’s use of them.
Iqbal held to the doctrine of art for life’s sake. Acutely aware of the problems of Muslim decadence and backwardness, Iqbal takes it upon himself to shake the Muslims of India and other countries out of their lethargy, urging them to take the path of progress, so that they can gain an honorable position in the polity of nations, He uses the medium of poetry to arouse socio-religious consciousness among Muslims. As a result, Islamic religious and social themes predominate in his poetry. But Iqbal’s vision of a revived religion is far from conservative. He is sharply critical of many of the institutions of historic Islam (of the institution of monarchy, for example), and his vision of a new world derives from the Islamic notions of egalitarianism and social justice. He rejects dogmatism in religion, advocates rethinking of the Islamic intellectual heritage, and stands for the establishment of a forward-looking community. But the conviction of art for life’s sake never allows Iqbal’s poetry to degenerate into bland or crass propaganda. The worldwide acclamation he has won is proof that Iqbal’s strength consists in writing purpose poetry of the highest artistic standards.
Ultimately, however, the secret of the appeal of Iqbal’s poetry lies in the personality behind that poetry. Whether he is dealing with a broadly humanistic or a specifically Islamic theme, Iqbal views it from a unique perspective. Consider his boldly critical attitude toward certain aspects of the received tradition, an attitude reflected, for example, in the poems referred above. Unlike almost any other poet in the Islamic tradition, Iqbal enters into a dialogue with God, raising issues the orthodox would consider disturbing. He asks whether Adam’s expulsion from heaven has turned out to be Adam’s loss or God’s own; he challenges God to speak to him face to face rather than through messengers, and, noting the discrepancy between the boundlessness of human ambition and the limitedness of the resources put at humans’ disposal, he asks God whether His experiment involving Adam is to be taken seriously. Iqbal’s view of the role of Satan in the world is also highly intriguing and, as one would expect, highly unconventional (see “Conquest of Nature” and “Gabriel and Iblis”).
A notable thing about Iqbal’s perspective is ambiguity, a typical modem quality. Especially when he is talking about metaphysical issues, Iqbal raises some difficult questions, without providing a single “valid” answer. In “Paradise Lost and Regained” the question whether Adam should have sinned or not (each scenario being theoretically defensible) is not answered by Iqbal. In “Gabriel and Iblis” we are left to wonder about Iqbal’s own view of Iblis’ self-justification. And in “Solitude” we cannot be certain why God smiles.
In several places Iqbal talks about himself about his Eastern background and Western education, and the contradictions of his own personality; his conviction that his study of historic Islam had furnished him with certain valuable insights which he must share with his people; his hope that his message will spread across the Muslim world, and his apprehension that he will be misunderstood or appreciated for the wrong reasons. Here it may be added that the various attempts made to identify (or label) Iqbal as a Sufi or an orthodox Muslim, as a radical or a reactionary are wide of the mark because Iqbal is too large a figure to fit any narrow, procrustean category; he demands and deserves attention on his own terms.

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III

Iqbal had a fine sense of the dramatic, and in his poetry he frequently employs dramatic techniques. Many of his poems are structured like a play, with the first half of the poem building a tension or conflict that is resolved, or raising a question that is answered, in the second half Examples are “Gabriel and Iblis”, “The Dew and the Stars”, “The Houri and the Poet” and “Fatimah bint ‘Abdullah”. Many poems are dialogues, with well-argued positions taken by the interlocutors (“A Dialogue Between God and Man”, “The Dew and the Stars”, “Reason and Heart” and “A Dialogue Between Knowledge and Love”; also the fables). Some poems are one-sided dialogues or monologues (“Give Me Another Adversary”, “The Falcon’s Advice to Its Youngster”). Again, Iqbal carefully weaves the “plot” of a poem, arousing the reader’s curiosity, dropping seemingly casual hints that turn out to be prophetic, providing flashback, and saving his masterstroke for the end. Two excellent examples are “The Night and the Poet” and “The Houri and the Poet”.
Iqbal has some favorite images and motifs. The eagle is Iqbal’s favorite bird, and the tulip his favorite flower. We will here say a few words about the tulip. The tulip is a pretty flower, but, when it grows in the desert (Lala’-i sahra’), it combines strength with beauty, for it then represents the assertion of one’s self (khudi) in the face of hostile circumstances. The tulip owes its splendor not to an outside source but to the “scar” inside its heart, its glow being indigenous to it, as befits a flower with akhudi of its own. The tulip is thus a “model” for individuals and nations to follow. In one of his quatrains (“Freedom and Determinism and Philosophy of History”), speaking of the difficult circumstances that alone give birth to new nations, Iqbal says: “From mountains and deserts do nations arise.” Although Iqbal does not mention the tulip in this quatrain, it would not be far-fetched to suggest that, conceptually, Iqbal here has the desert tulip in mind. The cup-shaped flower suggests to Iqbal’s mind several analogies, and in one piece (“Locke, Kant, and Bergson,”) Iqbal, makes consistent use of the tulip image to describe and analyze complex philosophical ideas. It is in view of the deep significance of the flower in Iqbal’s poetry that I have chosen Tulip in the Desert as the title of my volume of translations (Mustansir Mir, Tulip in the Desert,Hurst and Company, London, 2000). The images of the eagle and the tulip illustrate how Iqbal adds to the native literary tradition or makes an innovative use of that tradition (the tulip). Another example in this connection is that of the moth. In Persian and Urdu poetry the moth represents the devoted and self-immolating lover. Like the moth, which keeps circling the light, the lover (a male) desires to stay close to the beloved (a female). But in Iqbal, typically, the moth often represent a reprehensible rather than a praiseworthy quality: the shining light it is in love with is not its own. The moth is to be contrasted with another, the firefly, which, though it has a weak light, can at least call this light its own. The firefly, in other words, is possessed of khudi, but the moth has no khudi. Iqbal often uses a series of images to convey a thought, producing a cumulative effect. In “Fatimah bint -Abdullah,” for example, he uses no fewer than four images to express the idea that, even in its present age of decadence, the Muslim Community can produce individuals of exceptional caliber:
O that our autumn-stricken garden had A flower-bud like this! O that in our ashes would be found, O Lord, A spark like this! In our desert is hidden many a deer still. In the spent clouds lies dormant still Many a flash of lightning.

Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's achievement as the founder of Pakistan, dominates everything else he did in his long and crowded public life spanning some 42 years. Yet, by any standard, his was an eventful life, his personality multidimensional and his achievements in other fields were many, if not equally great. Indeed, several were the roles he had played with distinction: at one time or another, he was one of the greatest legal luminaries India had produced during the first half of the century, an `ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, a great constitutionalist, a distinguished parliamentarian, a top-notch politician, an indefatigable freedom-fighter, a dynamic Muslim leader, a political strategist and, above all one of the great nation-builders of modern times. What, however, makes him so remarkable is the fact that while similar other leaders assumed the leadership of traditionally well-defined nations and espoused their cause, or led them to freedom, he created a nation out of an inchoate and down-trodeen minority and established a cultural and national home for it. And all that within a decase. For over three decades before the successful culmination in 1947, of the Muslim struggle for freedom in the South-Asian subcontinent, Jinnah had provided political leadership to the Indian Muslims: initially as one of the leaders, but later, since 1947, as the only prominent leader- the Quaid-i-Azam. For over thirty years, he had guided their affairs; he had given expression, coherence and direction to their ligitimate aspirations and cherished dreams; he had formulated these into concerete demands; and, above all, he had striven all the while to get them conceded by both the ruling British and the numerous Hindus the dominant segment of India's population. And for over thirty years he had fought, relentlessly and inexorably, for the inherent rights of the Muslims for an honourable existence in the subcontinent. Indeed, his life story constitutes, as it were, the story of the rebirth of the Muslims of the subcontinent and their spectacular rise to nationhood, phoenixlike.Early LifeBorn on December 25, 1876, in a prominent mercantile family in Karachi and educated at the Sindh Madrassat-ul-Islam and the Christian Mission School at his birth place,Jinnah joined the Lincoln's Inn in 1893 to become the youngest Indian to be called to the Bar, three years later. Starting out in the legal profession withknothing to fall back upon except his native ability and determination, young Jinnah rose to prominence and became Bombay's most successful lawyer, as few did, within a few years. Once he was firmly established in the legal profession, Jinnah formally entered politics in 1905 from the platform of the Indian National Congress. He went to England in that year alongwith Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), as a member of a Congress delegation to plead the cause of Indian self-governemnt during the British elections. A year later, he served as Secretary to Dadabhai Noaroji (1825-1917), the then Indian National Congress President, which was considered a great honour for a budding politician. Here, at the Calcutta Congress session (December 1906), he also made his first political speech in support of the resolution on self-government.Political CareerThree years later, in January 1910, Jinnah was elected to the newly-constituted Imperial Legislative Council. All through his parliamentary career, which spanned some four decades, he was probably the most powerful voice in the cause of Indian freedom and Indian rights. Jinnah, who was also the first Indian to pilot a private member's Bill through the Council, soon became a leader of a group inside the legislature. Mr. Montagu (1879-1924), Secretary of State for India, at the close of the First World War, considered Jinnah "perfect mannered, impressive-looking, armed to the teeth with dialecties..."Jinnah, he felt, "is a very clever man, and it is, of course, an outrage that such a man should have no chance of running the affairs of his own country."

For about three decades since his entry into politics in 1906, Jinnah passionately believed in and assiduously worked for Hindu-Muslim unity. Gokhale, the foremost Hindu leader before Gandhi, had once said of him, "He has the true stuff in him and that freedom from all sectarian prejudice which will make him the best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity: And, to be sure, he did become the architect of Hindu-Muslim Unity: he was responsible for the Congress-League Pact of 1916, known popularly as Lucknow Pact- the only pact ever signed between the two political organisations, the Congress and the All-India Muslim League, representing, as they did, the two major communities in the subcontinent."

The Congress-League scheme embodied in this pact was to become the basis for the Montagu-Chemlsford Reforms, also known as the Act of 1919. In retrospect, the Lucknow Pact represented a milestone in the evolution of Indian politics. For one thing, it conceded Muslims the right to separate electorate, reservation of seats in the legislatures and weightage in representation both at the Centre and the minority provinces. Thus, their retention was ensured in the next phase of reforms. For another, it represented a tacit recognition of the All-India Muslim League as the representative organisation of the Muslims, thus strengthening the trend towards Muslim individuality in Indian politics. And to Jinnah goes the credit for all this. Thus, by 1917, Jinnah came to be recognised among both Hindus and Muslims as one of India's most outstanding political leaders. Not only was he prominent in the Congress and the Imperial Legislative Council, he was also the President of the All-India Muslim and that of lthe Bombay Branch of the Home Rule League. More important, because of his key-role in the Congress-League entente at Lucknow, he was hailed as the ambassador, as well as the embodiment, of Hindu-Muslim unity.Constitutional StruggleIn subsequent years, however, he felt dismayed at the injection of violence into politics. Since Jinnah stood for "ordered progress", moderation, gradualism and constitutionalism, he felt that political terrorism was not the pathway to national liberation but, the dark alley to disaster and destruction. Hence, the constitutionalist Jinnah could not possibly, countenance Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's novel methods of Satyagrah (civil disobedience) and the triple boycott of government-aided schools and colleges, courts and councils and British textiles. Earlier, in October 1920, when Gandhi, having been elected President of the Home Rule League, sought to change its constitution as well as its nomenclature, Jinnah had resigned from the Home Rule League, saying: "Your extreme programme has for the moment struck the imagination mostly of the inexperienced youth and the ignorant and the illiterate. All this means disorganisation and choas". Jinnah did not believe that ends justified the means.

In the ever-growing frustration among the masses caused by colonial rule, there was ample cause for extremism. But, Gandhi's doctrine of non-cooperation, Jinnah felt, even as Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) did also feel, was at best one of negation and despair: it might lead to the building up of resentment, but nothing constructive. Hence, he opposed tooth and nail the tactics adopted by Gandhi to exploit the Khilafat and wrongful tactics in the Punjab in the early twenties. On the eve of its adoption of the Gandhian programme, Jinnah warned the Nagpur Congress Session (1920): "you are making a declaration (of Swaraj within a year) and committing the Indian National Congress to a programme, which you will not be able to carry out". He felt that there was no short-cut to independence and that Gandhi's extra-constitutional methods could only lead to political terrorism, lawlessness and chaos, without bringing India nearer to the threshold of freedom.

The future course of events was not only to confirm Jinnah's worst fears, but also to prove him right. Although Jinnah left the Congress soon thereafter, he continued his efforts towards bringing about a Hindu-Muslim entente, which he rightly considered "the most vital condition of Swaraj". However, because of the deep distrust between the two communities as evidenced by the country-wide communal riots, and because the Hindus failed to meet the genuine demands of the Muslims, his efforts came to naught. One such effort was the formulation of the Delhi Muslim Proposals in March, 1927. In order to bridge Hindu-Muslim differences on the constitutional plan, these proposals even waived the Muslim right to separate electorate, the most basic Muslim demand since 1906, which though recognised by the congress in the Lucknow Pact, had again become a source of friction between the two communities. surprisingly though, the Nehru Report (1928), which represented the Congress-sponsored proposals for the future constitution of India, negated the minimum Muslim demands embodied in the Delhi Muslim Proposals.

In vain did Jinnah argue at the National convention (1928): "What we want is that Hindus and Mussalmans should march together until our object is achieved...These two communities have got to be reconciled and united and made to feel that their interests are common". The Convention's blank refusal to accept Muslim demands represented the most devastating setback to Jinnah's life-long efforts to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity, it meant "the last straw" for the Muslims, and "the parting of the ways" for him, as he confessed to a Parsee friend at that time. Jinnah's disillusionment at the course of politics in the subcontinent prompted him to migrate and settle down in London in the early thirties. He was, however, to return to India in 1934, at the pleadings of his co-religionists, and assume their leadership. But, the Muslims presented a sad spectacle at that time. They were a mass of disgruntled and demoralised men and women, politically disorganised and destitute of a clear-cut political programme.Muslim League ReorganizedThus, the task that awaited Jinnah was anything but easy. The Muslim League was dormant: primary branches it had none; even its provincial organizations were, for the most part, ineffective and only nominally under the control of the central organization. Nor did the central body have any coherent policy of its own till the Bombay session (1936), which Jinnah organized. To make matters worse, the provincial scene presented a sort of a jigsaw puzzle: in the Punjab, Bengal, Sindh, the North West Frontier, Assam, Bihar and the United Provinces, various Muslim leaders had set up their own provincial parties to serve their personal ends. Extremely frustrating as the situation was, the only consultation Jinnah had at this juncture was in Allama Iqbal (1877-1938), the poet-philosopher, who stood steadfast by him and helped to charter the course of Indian politics from behind the scene.

Undismayed by this bleak situation, Jinnah devoted himself with singleness of purpose to organizing the Muslims on one platform. He embarked upon country-wide tours. He pleaded with provincial Muslim leaders to sink their differences and make common cause with the League. He exhorted the Muslim masses to organize themselves and join the League. He gave coherence and direction to Muslim sentiments on the Government of India Act, 1935. He advocated that the Federal Scheme should be scrapped as it was subversive of India's cherished goal of complete responsible Government, while the provincial scheme, which conceded provincial autonomy for the first time, should be worked for what it was worth, despite its certain objectionable features. He also formulated a viable League manifesto for the election scheduled for early 1937. He was, it seemed, struggling against time to make Muslim India a power to be reckoned with.

Despite all the manifold odds stacked against it, the Muslim League won some 108 (about 23 per cent) seats out of a total of 485 Muslim seats in the various legislature. Though not very impressive in itself, the League's partial success assumed added significance in view of the fact that the League won the largest number of Muslim seats and that it was the only all-India party of the Muslims in the country. Thus, the elections represented the first milestone on the long road to putting Muslim India on the map of the subcontinent. Congress in Power With the year 1937opened the most mementoes decade in modern Indian history. In that year came into force the provincial part of the Government of India Act, 1935, granting autonomy to Indians for the first time, in the provinces.

The Congress, having become the dominant party in Indian politics, came to power in seven provinces exclusively, spurning the League's offer of cooperation, turning its back finally on the coalition idea and excluding Muslims as a political entity from the portals of power. In that year, also, the Muslim League, under Jinnah's dynamic leadership, was reorganized de novo, transformed into a mass organization, and made the spokesman of Indian Muslims as never before. Above all, in that momentous year were initiated certain trends in Indian politics, the crystallization of which in subsequent years made the partition of the subcontinent inevitable. The practical manifestation of the policy of the Congress which took office inJuly, 1937, in seven out of eleven provinces, convinced Muslims that, in the Congress scheme of things, they could live only on sufferance of Hindus and as "second class" citizens. The Congress provincial governments, it may be remembered, had embarked upon a policy and launched a PROGRAMME in which Muslims felt that their religion, language and culture were not safe. This blatantly aggressive Congress policy was seized upon by Jinnah to awaken the Muslims to a new consciousness, organize them on all-India platform, and make them a power to be reckoned with. He also gave coherence, direction and articulation to their innermost, yet vague, urges and aspirations. Above all, the filled them with his indomitable will, his own unflinching faith in their destiny.The New AwakeningAs a result of Jinnah's ceaseless efforts, the Muslims awakened from what Professor Baker calls (their) "unreflective silence" (in which they had so complacently basked for long decades), and to "the spiritual essence of nationality" that had existed among them for a pretty long time. Roused by the impact of successive Congress hammerings, the Muslims, as Ambedkar (principal author of independent India's Constitution) says, "searched their social consciousness in a desperate attempt to find coherent and meaningful articulation to their cherished yearnings. To their great relief, they discovered that their sentiments of nationality had flamed into nationalism". In addition, not only had they developed" the will to live as a "nation", had also endowed them with a territory which they could occupy and make a State as well as a cultural home for the newly discovered nation. These two pre-requisites, as laid down by Renan, provided the Muslims with the intellectual justification for claiming a distinct nationalism (apart from Indian or Hindu nationalism) for themselves. So that when, after their long pause, the Muslims gave expression to their innermost yearnings, these turned out to be in favor of a separate Muslim nationhood and of a separate Muslim state.

Demand for Pakistan"We are a nation", they claimed in the ever eloquent words of the Quaid-i-Azam- "We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral code, customs and calendar, history and tradition, aptitudes and ambitions; in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of international law, we are a nation". The formulation of the Muslim demand for Pakistan in 1940 had a tremendous impact on the nature and course of Indian politics. On the one hand, it shattered for ever the Hindu dreams of a pseudo-Indian, in fact, Hindu empire on British exit from India: on the other, it heralded an era of Islamic renaissance and creativity in which the Indian Muslims were to be active participants. The Hindu reaction was quick, bitter, malicious.

Equally hostile were the British to the Muslim demand, their hostility having stemmed from their belief that the unity of India was their main achievement and their foremost contribution. The irony was that both the Hindus and the British had not anticipated the astonishingly tremendous response that the Pakistan demand had elicited from the Muslim masses. Above all, they failed to realize how a hundred million people had suddenly become supremely conscious of their distinct nationhood and their high destiny. In channelling the course of Muslim politics towards Pakistan, no less than in directing it towards its consummation in the establishment of Pakistan in 1947, non played a more decisive role than did Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was his powerful advocacy of the case of Pakistan and his remarkable strategy in the delicate negotiations, that followed the formulation of the Pakistan demand, particularly in the post-war period, that made Pakistan inevitable.Cripps SchemeWhile the British reaction to the Pakistan demand came in the form of the Cripps offer of April, 1942, which conceded the principle of self-determination to provinces on a territorial basis, the Rajaji Formula (called after the eminent Congress leader C.Rajagopalacharia, which became the basis of prolonged Jinnah-Gandhi talks in September, 1944), represented the Congress alternative to Pakistan. The Cripps offer was rejected because it did not concede the Muslim demand the whole way, while the Rajaji Formula was found unacceptable since it offered a "moth-eaten, mutilated" Pakistan and the too appended with a plethora of pre-conditions which made its emergence in any shape remote, if not altogether impossible. Cabinet Mission The most delicate as well as the most tortuous negotiations, however, took place during 1946-47, after the elections which showed that the country was sharply and somewhat evenly divided between two parties- the Congress and the League- and that the central issue in Indian politics was Pakistan.

These negotiations began with the arrival, in March 1946, of a three-member British Cabinet Mission. The crucial task with which the Cabinet Mission was entrusted was that of devising in consultation with the various political parties, a constitution-making machinery, and of setting up a popular interim government. But, because the Congress-League gulf could not be bridged, despite the Mission's (and the Viceroy's) prolonged efforts, the Mission had to make its own proposals in May, 1946. Known as the Cabinet Mission Plan, these proposals stipulated a limited centre, supreme only in foreign affairs, defense and communications and three autonomous groups of provinces. Two of these groups were to have Muslim majorities in the north-west and the north-east of the subcontinent, while the third one, comprising the Indian mainland, was to have a Hindu majority. A consummate statesman that he was, Jinnah saw his chance. He interpreted the clauses relating to a limited centre and the grouping as "the foundation of Pakistan", and induced the Muslim League Council to accept the Plan in June 1946; and this he did much against the calculations of the Congress and to its utter dismay.

Tragically though, the League's acceptance was put down to its supposed weakness and the Congress put up a posture of defiance, designed to swamp the League into submitting to its dictates and its interpretations of the plan. Faced thus, what alternative had Jinnah and the League but to rescind their earlier acceptance, reiterate and reaffirm their original stance, and decide to launch direct action (if need be) to wrest Pakistan. The way Jinnah maneuvered to turn the tide of events at a time when all seemed lost indicated, above all, his masterly grasp of the situation and his adeptness at making strategic and tactical moves. Partition Plan By the close of 1946, the communal riots had flared up to murderous heights, engulfing almost the entire subcontinent. The two peoples, it seemed, were engaged in a fight to the finish. The time for a peaceful transfer of power was fast running out. Realizing the gravity of the situation. His Majesty's Government sent down to India a new Viceroy- Lord Mountbatten. His protracted negotiations with the various political leaders resulted in 3 June.(1947) Plan by which the British decided to partition the subcontinent, and hand over power to two successor States on 15 August, 1947. The plan was duly accepted by the three Indian parties to the dispute- the Congress the League and the Akali Dal (representing the Sikhs).

Leader of a Free NationIn recognition of his singular contribution, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was nominated by the Muslim League as the Governor-General of Pakistan, while the Congress appointed Mountbatten as India's first Governor-General. Pakistan, it has been truly said, was born in virtual chaos. Indeed, few nations in the world have started on their career with less resources and in more treacherous circumstances. The new nation did not inherit a central government, a capital, an administrative core, or an organized defense force. Its social and administrative resources were poor; there was little equipment and still less statistics. The Punjab holocaust had left vast areas in a shambles with communications disrupted. This, along with the en masse migration of the Hindu and Sikh business and managerial classes, left the economy almost shattered.

The treasury was empty, India having denied Pakistan the major share of its cash balances. On top of all this, the still unorganized nation was called upon to feed some eight million refugees who had fled the insecurities and barbarities of the north Indian plains that long, hot summer. If all this was symptomatic of Pakistan's administrative and economic weakness, the Indian annexation, through military action in November 1947, of Junagadh (which had originally acceded to Pakistan) and the Kashmir war over the State's accession (October 1947-December 1948) exposed her military weakness. In the circumstances, therefore, it was nothing short of a miracle that Pakistan survived at all. That it survived and forged ahead was mainly due to one man-Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The nation desperately needed in the person of a charismatic leader at that critical juncture in the nation's history, and he fulfilled that need profoundly. After all, he was more than a mere Governor-General: he was the Quaid-i-Azam who had brought the State into being.

In the ultimate analysis, his very presence at the helm of affairs was responsible for enabling the newly born nation to overcome the terrible crisis on the morrow of its cataclysmic birth. He mustered up the immense prestige and the unquestioning loyalty he commanded among the people to energize them, to raise their morale, land directed the profound feelings of patriotism that the freedom had generated, along constructive channels. Though tired and in poor health, Jinnah yet carried the heaviest part of the burden in that first crucial year. He laid down the policies of the new state, called attention to the immediate problems confronting the nation and told the members of the Constituent Assembly, the civil servants and the Armed Forces what to do and what the nation expected of them. He saw to it that law and order was maintained at all costs, despite the provocation that the large-scale riots in north India had provided. He moved from Karachi to Lahore for a while and supervised the immediate refugee problem in the Punjab. In a time of fierce excitement, he remained sober, cool and steady. He advised his excited audience in Lahore to concentrate on helping the refugees, to avoid retaliation, exercise restraint and protect the minorities. He assured the minorities of a fair deal, assuaged their inured sentiments, and gave them hope and comfort. He toured the various provinces, attended to their particular problems and instilled in the people a sense of belonging. He reversed the British policy in the North-West Frontier and ordered the withdrawal of the troops from the tribal territory of Waziristan, thereby making the Pathans feel themselves an integral part of Pakistan's body-politics. He created a new Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, and assumed responsibility for ushering in a new era in Balochistan. He settled the controversial question of the states of Karachi, secured the accession of States, especially of Kalat which seemed problematical and carried on negotiations with Lord Mountbatten for the settlement of the Kashmir Issue.The Quaid's last MessageIt was, therefore, with a sense of supreme satisfaction at the fulfillment of his mission that Jinnah told the nation in his last message on 14 August, 1948: "The foundations of your State have been laid and it is now for you to build and build as quickly and as well as you can". In accomplishing the task he had taken upon himself on the morrow of Pakistan's birth, Jinnah had worked himself to death, but he had, to quote richard Symons, "contributed more than any other man to Pakistan's survivial". He died on 11 September, 1948. How true was Lord Pethick Lawrence, the former Secretary of State for India, when he said, "Gandhi died by the hands of an assassin; Jinnah died by his devotion to Pakistan".

A man such as Jinnah, who had fought for the inherent rights of his people all through his life and who had taken up the somewhat unconventional and the largely misinterpreted cause of Pakistan, was bound to generate violent opposition and excite implacable hostility and was likely to be largely misunderstood. But what is most remarkable about Jinnah is that he was the recipient of some of the greatest tributes paid to any one in modern times, some of them even from those who held a diametrically opposed viewpoint.

The Aga Khan considered him "the greatest man he ever met", Beverley Nichols, the author of `Verdict on India', called him "the most important man in Asia", and Dr. Kailashnath Katju, the West Bengal Governor in1948, thought of him as "an outstanding figure of this century not only in India, but in the whole world". While Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, called him "one of the greatest leaders in the Muslim world", the Grand Mufti of Palestine considered his death as a "great loss" to the entire world of Islam. It was, however, given to Surat Chandra Bose, leader of the Forward Bloc wing of the Indian National Congress, to sum up succinctly his personal and political achievements. "Mr Jinnah", he said on his death in 1948, "was great as a lawyer, once great as a Congressman, great as a leader of Muslims, great as a world politician and diplomat, and greatest of all as a man of action, By Mr. Jinnah's passing away, the world has lost one of the greatest statesmen and Pakistan its life-giver, philosopher and guide". Such was Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the man and his mission, such the range of his accomplishments and achievements.

Hazrat Bari Imam was married but don't have any childern, people claimed to be his family are from the brother of Hazrat Bari Imam. This area was jungle when Hazrat Bari Imam stay here, area was famous due to robbers, when Hazrat came here he change the lives of this area and now this area is known as Noor Pur Shahan. Its been more than 300 years when Hazrat Bari Imam Came here.

All sufis of indo pak when came to Rawalpindi, Islamabad do come here, Urs of Hazrat Bari Imam Qadri held every year by April or May (as decided by Govt of Pakistan) for 5 years. People from all over Pakistan came here to attend Urs.

This place is on the back of the President House and Prime Minister Office. If you see any development here, that will be done by the people not by the Govt, Officials just have plan to build a new complex over here but could not make it happen.

Bari Imam (1617 to 1705), whose real name is Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi, was born in 1026 Hijra (1617 AD). His father, Syed Mehmood Shah, shifted his family from Jhelum District to Baghan village, presently called Aabpara. At that time, it was a barren land. Soon after the arrival of Bari Imam's family, his father started farming and also kept some animals. Shah Latif helped his father in grazing the animals, but left his father at 12 and came to Nurpur Shahan. From Nurpur Shahan, Bari Imam went to Ghaur Ghashti (now known as Attock) where he stayed for two years for learning fiqh, hadith, logic, mathematics, medicine and other disciplines, because at that time Ghaur Ghashti was great seat of learning.

The Saint Bari Imam used to live in a cave, where he was visited by wild animals and djinns. A rock in the cave which resembles a cave is said to be a real snake turned into stone by the Holy man. There is a fire burning in the cave for some 300 years now, and a tree in front of the cave is said to bee also 300 years old. According to legend Bari Imam lived a hermits life in this cave for twelve years.

He was the first spiritual guide of Gohar Shahi as well. As Gohar Shahi states in his book about Bari Imam that at the age of 34 Bari Imam appeared before me (Gohar Shahi) and said: "My son your time has come, your must go to the shrine of Sakhi Sultan Bahoo Sahib to receive the Sacred Inner Dimensions of Spiritual Knowledge."

To get spiritual knowledge and satiate his love for Islam, Bari Imam visited many places, including Kashmir, Badakhshan, Bukhara, Mashhad, Baghdad and Damascus. He not only received spiritual knowledge in these places but also held discussions with scholars belonging to different schools of thought on various subjects. Later, he went to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.

Bari Imam received spiritual knowledge from Hayat- al-Mir (Zinda Pir). His 'Pir' gave him the title of Bari Imam, which proves his link to Syed family. Bari Imam converted thousands of Hindus into Muslims through the teachings of Islam at Nurpur Shahan. It is stated that once Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir himself came there to pay respects to Bari Imam.

Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who was devoted to spreading his empire, originally built the silver-mirrored shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam [RA]. It has been renovated and is now is maintained by the government. Inside the mausoleum, where the great saint rests, only men are permitted, a steady stream of worshippers enter and exit, most bending to kiss and strew rose petals on the green cloth covering the grave of Hazrat Bari Sarkar [RA]. The shrine is a tourist spot in the tour guide's list. Every year as the Urs of the saint, who spread Islam in this part of the world, gains momentum, devotees in their thousands set out for the Margalla foothills and gather at Nurpur Shahan to pay their respect. Although many swarm the shrine all year round, only last year the number exceeded a head count of 1.2 million people.

Nighttime is the best time to visit the shrine, as the atmosphere is hyped by glittering lights, sounds of qawalis and dhammals of malangs. There was a time when the event attracted a number of dancing girls from Lahore. Although dancing is no more allowed, the women still come to pay their respect.

Reciting verses from the Quran, women view the grave through a glass window, which many touch and kiss while praying for the blessings of Almighty Allah.

The faithful read from one of the hundreds of the copies of the Quran, the moment when one leaves after recitation. Some simply sit in silence as mark of respect for the great saint, taking a moment to say a final prayer and to collect the inspiration and strength to make the journey back home.